Sorry about that. I could give you lots of excuses, but instead I'll give you...a BLACK ICE update! A few weeks ago I sent the first draft of BLACK ICE to my new editor, and now I'm working furiously on her revision suggestions. My due date for these revisions is May 13th--which explains the "working furiously" part!
At book signings, readers will often ask how much power or authority my editor has to make changes to my books. The simple answer is that my books are mine, and I ultimately get to decide what goes into them. But (and this is a very big but!) I trust my editor's fresh eyes and keen insight, and except for a few rare instances, I've tried to incorporate her suggestions. Sometimes my editor's suggestions are a springboard for new ideas, and I end up taking the story down a path I'd never imagined. I love/hate it when that happens. I
love making my story stronger, but like most humans, I'm lazy, and sometimes I dread the idea of writing lots of extra pages. Writing equals work, and don't you forget it!
With this first round of revisions for BLACK ICE, my editor sent me a twelve-page letter detailing all of her concerns with the book. Confusing character names, weak character development, plot problems, logistics of the crimes, and her suggestion to completely remove the small, albeit present, paranormal element. She followed up the letter with a three-hour phone call, where we picked apart my characters' motivations and tried to nail down what each character wants, and what stands in their way. By the end of the phone call, I think we were both very excited to see a glimmer of a darn good story floating out there on the horizon. And editing is the process by which I try my best to make that distant vision something real.
I am all about checklists (I have a love affair with crossing things off in pink marker), so one of my editing strategies is to print off all of my editor's notes, and as I go through my story making revisions, I rather gleefully check off my to-do/to-edit items. It's one way to keep things organized and to track progress.
What about you? Do you have any editing tips/tricks?
Becca
